Installing SRI Gold kit today - little help?

Correct. Some things in life just cant be explained. IE, we all know that mother nature does some weird things....why are they weird? They are wierd because we cant explain them but that does not mean they don't happen. Ever notice a smaller tree planted beside a larger tree? The smaller tree grows on an angle and avoids touching the larger tree. We have all seen this happen and yet science cannot explain why. Do the trees have eyes of some kind or do they have esp? Nobody really know but it happens. Same goes for the gold kit that I have in my car. My car never ran the same 2 days in a row and now for the last 3 years it runs the same every day. Hmmm, I wonder why and so are the hundreds of others that have installed this kit. I guess some just don't question a good thing, others do and they never realize the maximum output of their car. I feel sorry for them. And again for those that don't own a Ferrari and are questioning the gold kit....well you've seen what I think of you.

 

well, you got me convinced. i'm putting in my order for the kit asap...

 

Well, I think it is reasonable to think that replacing 14 to 18 year old connector with new ones would result in an improvement in the short term. Gold-gold, tin-tin, gold-tin, probably doesn't matter in the short term. But another 10 years down the road what will the verdict be? Will the tin pins in the ECUs be destroyed by chemistry of gold on tin? Maybe it will take 10 years. Maybe even longer. But gold will eventually eat the tin pins. Gold on tin is like smoking or inhaling asbestos. It's a cancer seed and at some point it will sprout, if somethiong else doesn't kill it first. It's a ticking time bomb and the only question is how long 'till it goes off?

Here is another quote from an electronics supplier:

And yet another:

And another from the compter memory industry:

If you insist on ignoring all the data and warnings out there about this you are simply in a state of denial.

 

Well im glad you are now convinced. Just make sure you have a Ferrari to put them on.

 

Maybe I shouldn't have installed the gold kit after all. Don't know what I will do when the contacts corrode in 50 years. I should have left them alone and drove a POS instead. Not

 

Who is it that is misusing (and contradicting) science when every field you look at; computers, aviation, consumer electronics, connector manufactures, says don't go gold on tin? It is only a handful here that recommends going against the grain. And the attitude seems to be, "Well it doesn't matter if it takes 10 years (or more) to F-up the car because I won't own it by then. Yea, who cares if you have to replace a MAF or a TPS, or an ECU as long as it isn't on your dime.

 

You are making up things I did not say. Let me decrease the number of words:

I am not against tin. I don't care what it is made of if it works.
You brought up 10 year life not me.
I never brought up kicking the can down the road" not owning car "by then you did.
The fleet of mechanics is currently and has been replacing all these parts on your dime.
Gold kit was invented to not kick the can down the road but to provide real cures.
Gold kit users are replacing less parts.
Gold kit works. Go figure out why instead of telling us why it won't. Prove it!

 

Hi my name is Bob, I am a dentist from New Jersey. My town and real name is in my profile, like Dave Helm's is. Why is it that people won't identify who they are and use synonyms and incomplete profiles on here? This is a group with common interests and useful dialog. I think the attempt at anonymity creates an atmosphere that promotes less than polite discourse as this thread demonstrates. Have any of you ever taken a Dale Carnegie course? Try using your real names, you may be pleasantly surprised by the result.

Something for all you all to consider.

 

Agreed!

 

No doubt that if you are a real Ferrari owner/enthusiast you would proudly represent ones self, as opposed to keyboard anonymity (sp?). Why do people need to try & discredit the positive results that the "Gold Connector Kit" has achieved for all the lucky owners who now have much stronger/better running & more reliable Ferrari's?

 

OK, what's your "deal" JohnK? No seriously what's your deal? You don't like this product, you think the data you've presented about tin and gold together don't work/will not last is the end all be all. Stand on a soapbox and shout it to the masses: "people this kit does not work/will not last. Really I'm telling you science says it's so so do not believe reality for it is only a perceived reality" (move along there's nothing to see here, these are not the droids we're looking for)". SO DON'T BUY IT. I honestly hope your car drives and runs perfectly and will not experience any of the the troubles the rest of us have had.

Maybe you missed my first post where things were done on my car bassakwards. By that I mean this kit was not installed at the time of a major. I reiterate, my car was dead: unburned fuel through the cats, letters from the State of Colorado emissions dept., SD lights flashing, dropped left bank, dead on the side of the road. The only thing that was done to my car was this kit was installed and all of the above disappeared. Not perceived disappearance John but actual disappearance. The car ran perfect, which is a miracle when considering when I did have the major major (that means everything was "fixed" properly) done the things that we found that previous dealers and others had not done at all or did incorrectly were staggering; my car should have exploded years ago (thank you gold kit!).

FBB really has very eloquently laid out the case for this kit. We have cars with 4 years of service with this kit and no oxidation or problems. We'll check back in 8, 10, 15 years and see where we are. The cars that come on the market that have these kits will state as such in the writeup and buyers can decide for themselves at that time if this is a good or bad thing. The only thing I can add is that SRI used gold for a reason, they did not use it just because it was gold. I know they experimented with a miriad of wires, clamps, and many different proportions of tin, gold, and alloys. I also know that using just tin was one of the experiments. This kit that we now have took years and much money to get to where it is and I don't believe SRI will ever recoup this expenditure. All this was done due to one thing: the love of these cars. The passion Dave has for this marque is something special that you just don't see in very often in any occupation.

If you can build a better one John then please do. Until then...

So once again JohnK, what's your deal?



And in keeping with what drbob101 stated about full disclosure,

Steve Sutley
Arvada, CO
retired USGS Geochemist (35 years) and Newmont Mining Corp consultant (5 years)

 

I agree Bob. I had my last name shown for a while and only removed it becuase the google bot finds it. But, in my profile I have the web address for my company so it's not hard to find my last name.

At a minimum, everyone should at least list their first name and location.

 

I find John's comments very interesting. I don't view his comments as any attack on Dave Helms or the product, I find his posts to be very detailed about technical data and I agree with some of what he has posted. I see no reason for this to become hostile

 

How about this for a compromise:
For those whose cars are running perfect with no warning lights and are confused by all the above discussions: keep drivin' what ya got.
For those who are having issues with their cars and figure if everybody who installed a gold kit is happy with the results, go ahead and get the kit, and expect to spend a few days on installation and a few 4 letter words.
For those who are having issues with their cars, but think the gold is going to cause future problems, get the gold kit, and a itty bitty file, and file the gold coating off between the jaws. I'm sure it's all of a molecule or 2 thickness so would be easily removed. Then you get tin/tin AND superior clamping force. Or try to source your own pins with the better clamping force engineering, but without the gold....and your own removal tools or new plugs, and expect a few days on installation and a few 4 letter words.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

My Toyota has gold connectors on ABS, airbag and instrument cluster, unless these funny glasses are causing it

 

I would put my last name up if I was someone of any importance! But I'm not (and the google search issue)

Seriously though, I agree completely.

To get back on topic, I believe the relationship between buyers/users of the SRI GK and what side of the argument they are on speaks louder than all the collective arguments for or against on this thread. 100% of users speaking up are passionately raving about the product and how it has improved there Fcar. If that isn't enough for an unbiased potential customer I don't know what is at this point.

 

And this is ultimately what should be considered the most important point in this discussion and absolutely nothing else....period.

Even Johnk will eventually install the kit on one of his Ferraris but he will do it in disguise as he wont have the cojones to admit he did it.

 

Even though this thread has taken quite a diversion. It has provided some good information for someone considering purchasing one of the kits,(good and bad). The more knowledge one has, hopefully a smarter decision will be made. Science vs. real life applications. The information by users is anecdotal, but who can argue with positive comments from actual owners who have the kit installed in their cars. Only time will tell if problems will occur from the use of dissimilar metals. I am somewhat concerned about the dissimilar metal issue after reading some of the posts about it, but was more concerned about how easy or hard these kits are to install. At the present time my car runs great and does not have any CELs showing up, so I am afraid to start changing things.

 

Note that the "good" are documented and the "bad" no one has any evidence of seeing in a gold kit car.

If your car runs well to you and you fear you lack time or ability to do a proper install leave your car alone. If you learn to do more things on your car or develop problems your desire may change. If you drive a friends car with the gold kit your desires might change.

I don't have a problem when people vote with "their" wallet. That's a great choice for them. I have a problem when some try to cut down a good product clinging to a piece of scientific fact and applying it where it may not apply or may not be significant.

Since Dr.Bob101, the dentist chimed in, let's take a piece from his playbook. Think about the science fact that fluoride is toxic to humans and fluoride is in rat poison and no one in their right mind should have poison in their water. But it appears perfectly safe for humans as applied by dentistry and prevents cavities since at least the 60's. Science fact vs. real-life application, somehow fluoride is working. All these years later we are still seeing holy wars over water fluoridation. The gold kit is working. I guess we will continue to have the same holy war over gold kits.

 

Oh my, did you really try to use another analogy about something you know nothing about?
Fluoride because a dentist posted not about this kit, but because he thought people should post their names??.. Wtf



And Billy, if you already have the crimpers and extraction tool....why don't you try just buying new tin connectors for your second 550.? What fact causes you any hesitation in doing so? It's the exact same connector, but made of Tin. Post a pic of a left over connector, we can send it to waytek or Mouser and get you a few replacements for like $20. If I remember correctly, didn't you help develop this for the 550? (I could be mistaken here) so you seem like you like to experiment, so let's do it!

I predict that fresh crimps will be a plus for connectivity. I think you will see better grounding of your circuits. I think higher clamping force for your connector will be great. I think TIN will be great for the life of your ECU. And it may all be done without gold. What is your #1 hesitation?



Yes....the only thing that is clear....is that the entire scientific world is against this mismatch.

Sadly, all I can picture is a bunch of individuals here sitting in a circle saying "yeah, but this one goes to 11."

 

Ps....so is gold if you eat enough of it. So is lead. So is water.

And I love the reference that this as a "holy crusade." Really? Well now that I think of it, that is what this is. Your belief is so strong that you will fight beyond all known reason for your cause.....you have seen the light!

Did you know that fluorine is also in Risperdal? Yep, you may want to look that one up too.

 

Well got 6 hesitations:

1-an infamous person did the research 2 years ago trying to find gold pins. The volume for minimal order was huge. Like it was in the order of $10k or something ridiculous. So SRI is the only low volume consumer source I know of.
2-changing engine pins is easy. You can source the cheap tin pins all you want for that. But,how do you extract the old pins from the motronic ECU plugs? The opening access side is smaller than the pin so you can't use any extractor tool I know of. The motronic plugs are not available to you and me. Maybe some DOD engineer has access but I don't. SRI is the only source of those plug blocks.
3-doing engine pins without doing the ECU pins is not good enough for me. While it is an improvement I think of it as only half the job. I believe that because I did the original beta testing in 2 phases and each phase made a noticeable difference.
4-I know the SRI gold pin has superior clamp force. I have seen no data on tin jpt pins. Which tin jpt pins have the same or better clamping force than the SRI gold pins. Is there more than one tin pin or differences among manufacturers? Why are the Ferrari tin pins separating and the SRI gold pins not? Why would I want to put a tin pin that I know will fail from spreading? If I know what already works why waste my time. I'm 2+ years ahead of the guy thinking about using the gold kit. I have done my homework already and there is no reason for me to go back there.
5-I'm building a 550 racecar out of one of my two 550's. That is my focus. I don't need to experiment. I know what works. I have limited time and I want to get the 90pt concourse car running at its best so it can be my streetcar. Once that project is done I can gut out and lighten my old 550 to the 2800lb range and the stock 485hp motor will do a fine job on track.
6-The oem Ferrari pins have failed us. Some Pros claim that they failed when they left the factory as they chased ghosts under warranty. Why would anyone want to put tin pins back in that "will" fail? We are using Hill tensioner bearings and Hill throw-out bearings for the exact same reason we use the gold kit. We want stuff to work.

 

Why are you still so hung up on using Gold? This is the very first thing you bring up in your argument..... I am not sure if you understand our point.

 

You again are clearly missing the point. ALL I have been saying is to replace the ECU pins to TIN ones. You can get the plastic amp connector....is that what you are worried about? Was this unclear?